Bexley Park's beehives removed

Builder helped, say residents of Delray complex

Despite the mysterious illness wiping out many of the country's honeybees, Bexley Park residents haven't had to look far to find honey.

Bees were invading several townhomes there for several months. But homeowners say they are confident the hive problem has been resolved, since the infestation became public recently.

"Since the news hit the airways, D.R. Horton called and said they would be taking care of everything," said Ted Voorhees, referring to the complex's developer. "They brought in a bee company to remove the bees, a contractor to seal the hole and a painter. I couldn't believe how quickly they repaired the problem in all 10 homes."

They found 20 pounds of honeycomb in one house, he said.

The problem arose when the homeowners started seeing bees inside. Thinking they had buzzed in through an open door or window, they killed the bees with a swat.

But as the bees continued to appear, some homeowners felt they had a more serious problem, said Mark Croft, who has lived in the 54-acre complex between Military Trail and Barwick Road in Delray Beach since August.

"I noticed two bees in the track of the sliding glass door but didn't think much of it. My son was 2 years old at the time, and I didn't know if he was allergic to bee stings," Croft said. "A couple days later, I saw a live bee inside the house and started looking through the house for a hive. Then Nozzle Nolen [pest control] came out and walked the perimeter of house and saw where they were coming in."

His house was the first to be investigated.

Croft was referred to beekeeper Brian Moore, who did a thorough inspection. Poking holes throughout the outside of the house, he didn't find the hive but located its entry point, a small gap between the stucco on the outside of the building at the second story.

Moore broke a hole in the kitchen ceiling but found no hive. Then he proceeded to the third floor. After breaking a hole in the drywall in the bedroom, he located the hive between the second and third story and removed the hive and the bees.

"I guess I didn't see the fine print, 'Comes with bees,'

" Croft said jokingly. He paid $600 to eradicate the bees. But the problem didn't stop there. More homeowners started to experience the home invasion, and each of those houses had the same problematic gap, according to Mitchell Katz, president of the Bexley Park Homeowners Association.

"David Grady [from D.R. Horton] came out and saw the holes and bees and admitted verbally that the holes shouldn't be there, but the HOA was referred to the warranty company that said it wasn't covered under the warranty," Katz said. "Grady did say if we removed the bees, D.R. Horton would patch the holes, but the most expensive part is removal of the bees."

Katz wanted Horton to pay for the bee removal and considered the gap a construction defect. D.R. Horton could not be reached for comment, despite several attempts by phone.

This isn't the first time the neighborhood, a 264-unit mix of single-family homes and townhomes, has dealt with construction issues. Completed in late 2005, city officials touted the sale of the homes as an opportunity for moderate-income families to purchase quality homes, which were priced below market value and first offered to city employees.

But as Hurricane Wilma approached in 2005, scores of homeowners discovered the hurricane shutters left for them by the builder didn't fit. Afterward, Delray Beach Building official George Diaz said the complex was constructed in a little over 18 months. As a result, the home inspections were hustled along just as fast, with an inspector examining as many as 50 homes a day, compared with an average workload of 15 to 20, he said.

Moore, an experienced beekeeper, said there were about a dozen hives in several buildings, and the bees were trying to go back to the same spot. "Bees don't go away on their own; their hives just get bigger. People need to be careful how they're removed. I don't recommend people spray into the hole, because the bees will sting you and give off pheromones that invite other bees to attack," he said.

Voorhees, 33, had two bee invasions. "The beekeeper came in and opened a big hole on the second-level ceiling, and he extracted honeycomb out of the walls and at least 10,000 bees. A couple months rolled by, and I didn't have any bees, but the bees were coming in the house again," he said.

Voorhes said they tried to reach D.R. Horton. However, after their phone calls were not returned, the community took things into their own hands and contacted the news media. D.R. Horton finally responded, according to Katz.